Meet Alan: 2024 Scholar

Our College Scholars receive a financial scholarship to help with academic expenses, and each scholar commits to undertaking a volunteer project of their choosing related to childhood cancer advocacy, with support and mentorship from the Children's Cancer Cause team.

Alan’s Story

When he was ten years old, Alan lost hearing in his right ear. Soon after, his mom noticed something wrong with his smile. The right side of his face was partially paralyzed.

The ear doctor discovered the cause of his unusual symptoms: an embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma.

“My mother explained the situation to me as going to battle against a little monster in my ear,” he told us. “After my first round of chemotherapy, my head began alternating between an uncomfortable sense of cold and stifling heat. Worse, my nose and mouth were filled with weird tastes that made me noxious. I could not talk or open my eyes. I was as ill as I’d ever been.”

Radiation was soon added into his treatment. In total, he received 14 rounds of chemotherapy and 28 days of radiation therapy.

Alan is now studying computer engineering and physics at Pepperdine University.

Alan’s Advocacy Project

For months on end during treatment, Alan was unable to go outside or play with friends. To combat the loneliness, he started watching YouTubers, playing Roblox, and making online friends.

“Roblox cured my boredom while I was bed-bound in the hospital, so I decided that if I survived, I would become a video game developer so that other kids could experience the joy of video games in their lives just like I did,” Alan said. Keeping that promise to his younger self, Alan has taught himself everything about building, scripting, and designing video games. In the years since, he’s developed several games for both the Roblox and Minecraft platforms.

For his advocacy project, Alan is working on a video game dedicated to kids with cancer who feel lonely like he did.

“I want the game to connect cancer patients with new friends. In this game, kids from around the world will work together and complete tasks,” he told us.

Alan is calling his game “Pandemic Panacea,” and we’ll update this space when it’s launched in Roblox!